Swirl passage fuel injection devices

ABSTRACT

A fuel injection system having an ultrasonically vibrated nozzle to provide for fuel atomisation. The nozzle has a fuel outlet having a ball valve to give a quick fuel shut-off. Fuel circulates continuously around the ball valve by passing through passageways. The circulating fuel swirls around the ball valve and this swirling facilitates quick fuel atomisation when the nozzle is vibrated.

United States Patent 1191 1111 3,819,1 l6 Goodinge et al. 1 June 25,1974 [5 1 SWIRL PASSAGE FUEL INJECTION 2,079,430 5/1937 Bargeboer239/125 DEVICES 2,223,055 11/1940 Bergey 239/124 2,489,823 11/1949Senninger... 239/127 Inventors: Mark Wallmger g 3,317,139 5/1967Freeland 239/102 Brentwood; Robert Shephard, 3,589,610 6/1971 Wahlin etal. 239/125 Brakmgslde bmh of England FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS[73] Asslgnee g z gfi gx g 637,960 5/1950 Great B11131 239/125 '9 3 [22]Filed: May 29, 1973 P rimaryFxaminer M. Henson Wood,Jr.

, Assistant Examiner-John J. Love [211 App! 364857 Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Blunt, Moscovitz, Frietl man & Kaplan [30] Foreign ApplicationPriority Data July 26, 1972 Great Britain .34848/72 57 ABSTRACT 5211.5.01 239/102 239/125 239/463 A fuel injection System havingultrasonically 51 Int. Cl 13050 17/06 brated "01116 Promi3 for fuelalomisatione The [58] Field of Search 0 239/102 124 125 I27 zle has afuel outlet having a ball valve to give a quick 239/463 fuel shut-off.Fuel circulates continuously around the ball valve by passing throughpassageways. The circu- 56] References Cited lating fuel swirls aroundthe ball valve and this swirling facilitates quick fuel atomisation whenthe nozzle is UNITED STATES PATENTS vibrated 1,416,424 5/1922 Seymour,Jr 239/125 We, 2 1,761,174 6/1930 Boesger 239/124 X 5 Claims, 1 Drawing{Figure J' \M/I -24 f:- 1 ---34 34- 1 111' 1 1 l, I 1 22 --22A 1 l 1 e iI ee SWIRL PASSAGE FUEL INJECTION DEVICES DISCLOSURE This inventionrelates to a fuel injection device and to a. fuel system employing thefuel injection device. The invention has applied in all fields oftechnology requiring injection of fuel and may therefore be used with,for example, turbo-jet engines, turbo-prop engines, other gas turbineengines, internal combustion engines of the two stroke, four stroke anddiesel variety and central heating boilers.

It is known that atomization of liquid fuel can be effected by employingfuel injection devices which are vibrated, the vibrations beingsufficient to cause the fuel to become atomized. In our co-pending U.S.application Ser. No. 327,905 we have described a vibratory fuelinjection device employing a non-return valve,

preferably a ball valve, to prevent loss of fuel from the device whenfuel ejection is not desired. The use of the non-return valve enablesabrupt fuel cut-off and this is desirable to avoid wasting fuel and toenable good engine cut-off control to be achieved.

We have now found that efficient fuel atomization can be achieved if,during periods when the fuel injection device is not emitting fuel, thefuel is caused to swirl, especially in the vicinity of the non-returnvalve. The swirling fuel is more easily atomized when the fuel injectiondevice is vibrated than non-swirling fuel. Greater ease of fuelatomization is especially desirable when the fuel injection device isonly vibrated for relatively short periods, eg at low engine speeds whenrelatively little fuel is required.

The present invention thus provides in a broad aspect a fuel injectiondevice comprising a housing having a fuel inlet, a first fuel outlet, asecond fuel outlet, a swirl chamber position substantially adjacent saidfirst fuel outlet, a valve for opening and closing said first fueloutlet and which is positioned solely in said swirl chamber and presentsa substantial abutment area to the fuel in said swirl chamber, a firstfuel passageway leading from said fuel inlet to said swirl chamber, anda second fuel passageway leading from said swirl chamber to said secondfuel outlet, said fuel injection device being such that A. when saidvalve is closed then fuel can pass continuously through said device withfuel swirlage in said swirl chamber by entering said fuel inlet, passingalong said first fuel passageway and into said swirl chamber, and thenalong said second fuel passageway, and then through said second fueloutlet, said fuel swirlage in said swirl chamber being caused by saidmovement of said fuel from said first fuel passageway to said secondfuel passageway and by contact of said fuel with said abutment area ofsaid valve, and 1 B. when said valve is open, fuel can pass throughsaidfirst fuel outlet in an atomized condition.

Preferably, the valve is a floating ball valve.

The present invention also provides a fuel injection system including afuel injection device in accordance with the invention. 1

Preferably, the fuel injection system comprises a fuel injection devicein accordance with the invention for injecting fuel into adesired area,for example into a duct carrying air to an engine, and a vibrator forvibrating the nozzle to produce atomization of the fuel injected by thenozzle.

Other types of non-return valve in addition to the above mentioned ballvalve may of course be employed if desired. Various types of vibratorare known and the vibrator may include a piezo-electric element.

The fuel injection system of the present invention may include a fuelfeed device for providing a flow of fuel to the nozzle. The fuelinjection system may also include a timing control device which limitsthe energisation of the nozzlevibrations, e.g. ultrasonic vibrations, touniformly spaced periods. Each timing period may constitute anadjustable part of the cycle related to the revolution of an engine. Thetiming control device may be so connected to an engine as to limitenergisation of the ultrasonic vibrator to an adjustable part of eachsuction stroke of each cylinder fed by a flow duct.

In a preferred arrangement, in which there are periods when the fuelinjection device is vibrated in its longitudinal direction and in whichthere are periods when there is no such vibration, the ball valve isarranged to be normally held on its seat by fuel pressure assisted, ifdesired or necessary, by spring action. Inertia forces are relied uponto effect, during the time in which vibrations are applied to thenozzle, periodic opening of the non-return valve to permit the flow offuel. If desired, this inertia effect may be assisted or even replacedby magnetic action upon the non'retum valve, for example with the helpof a solenoid coil which is energised during thedesired period of fuelinjection, i.e. during the periods of vibration of the nozzle. Thenon-return valve is in this case made wholly or partly of magneticmaterial and is so arranged as to be urged in a direction away from itsseat by the magnetic action of the energised solenoid.

When the fuel injection nozzle is vibrated, it will generally bevibrated with so-called ultrasonic vibrations or at so-called ultrasonicfrequency. The vibrations obviously want to be sufficient to cause thejet of liquid to disintegrate into small mist-lilce particles. Thefrequency range in question may in practice be found to have its lowerlimit somewhere near the upper limit of audibility to a human ear.However, for reasons of noise suppression, it is generally preferable inpractice to use frequencies high enough to ensure that audible sound isnot produced.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of exampleand with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows one form offuel injection device in accordance with the invention.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown a fuel injection device 2havinga housing 4. The housing 4 is provided with a fuel inlet 6, a first fueloutlet 8 and a second fuel outlet 10. A ball valve 12 is positioned atthe inlet side of the first fuel outlet 8 and it will be noticed thatthe outlet 8 is provided with a restricted orifice 16 which is definedby an internal shoulder 18. Leading towards the ball valve 12 is anannular fuel passageway 20and leading away from the ballvalve 12 is aninternal fuel passageway 22.

In operation of the device 2, fuel enters the device 2 through the fuelinlet 6 and passes up through the passageway 20 where it enters a swirlchamber 24 adjacent the ball valve 12. In this chamber 24, the fuelswirls around the ball valve 12, whenthe ball valve is in the closedposition shown in the drawing, and then ultimately passes downwardsalong the fuel passageway 22. The fuel can then leave the device 2through the second fuel outlet 10. When it is desired to eject fuelthrough the first outlet 8, the nozzle is vibrated by means of anultrasonic vibrator 36. The vibrator vibrates the nozzle quickly and theball valve is moved very many times away from its seat against theshoulder 18. Because of the swirling of the fuel, acceptable fuelatomization occurs immediately or alternatively very soon after thevibration is started.

The device 2 shown in the darwing can be constructed of any desiredmaterial. The passageway 20 will normally be constructed by drilling acentre bore 26 into the housing 4 and subsequently locating in the bore26 a pipe 22A defining the bore 22. The pipe 22A is located by means ofbrazing joints 30, 32. It will be noted that the brazing joint 32 isprovided with passageways 34 to allow fuel to pass therethrough. Thebrazing joint 30 is not provided with passageways because it is notdesired to allow the fuel in the passageway 20 to pass downwardly to thesecond outlet 10. The fuel in the passageway 20 has to pass upwardsthrough the passageways 34 in the brazing joint 32 and the fuel in thepipe 22A has to pass downwardly through the passageway 22 and thereforethrough the centre of the brazing joint 30. It will thus be apparentthat when the device 2 is not being vibrated to eject fuel, then fuel ispassing continuously through the device 2 from the inlet 6 to the outlet10. Fuel leaving the outlet 10 can be recirculated, e.g. via a fueltank.

What we claim is:

l. A fuel injection device comprising a housing having a fuel inlet, afirst fuel outlet, a second fuel outlet, a swirl chamber positionedsubstantially adjacent said first fuel outlet, a valve for opening andclosing said first fuel outlet and which is positioned solely in saidswirl chamber and presents a substantial abutment area to the fuel insaid swirl chamber, a first fuel passageway leading from said fuel inletto said swirl chamber, and a second fuel passageway leading from saidswirl chamber to said second fuel outlet, said fuel injection devicebeing such that A. when said valve is closed then fuel can passcontinuously through said device with fuel swirlage in said swirlchamber by entering said fuel inlet, passing along said first fuelpassageway and into said swirl chamber, then along said second fuelpassageway, and then through said second fuel outlet, said fuel swirlagein said swirl chamber being caused by said movement of said fuel fromsaid first fuel passageway to said second fuel passageway and by contactof said fuel with said abutment area of said valve, and

B. when said valve is open fuel can pass through said first fuel outletin an atomized condition.

2. A fuel injection device according to claim 1 in which said valve is afloating ball valve.

3. A fuel injection system including a fuel injection device as claimedin claim 1.

4. A fuel injection system according to claim 3 including a vibrator forvibrating the nozzle to produce atomization of the fuel injectedby thenozzle.

5. A fuel injection system according to claim 4 in which the vibratorincludes a piezo-electric element.

1. A fuel injection device comprising a housing having a fuel inlet, a first fuel outlet, a second fuel outlet, a swirl chamber positioned substantially adjacent said first fuel outlet, a valve for opening and closing said first fuel outlet and which is positioned solely in said swirl chamber and presents a substantial abutment area to the fuel in said swirl chamber, a first fuel passageway leading from said fuel inlet to said swirl chamber, and a second fuel passageway leading from said swirl chamber to said second fuel outlet, said fuel injection device being such that A. when said valve is closed then fuel can pass continuously through said device with fuel swirlage in said swirl chamber by entering said fuel inlet, passing along said first fuel passageway and into said swirl chamber, then along said second fuel passageway, and then through said second fuel outlet, said fuel swirlage in said swirl chamber being caused by said movement of said fuel from said first fuel passageway to said second fuel passageway and by contact of said fuel with said abutment area of said valve, and B. when said valve is open fuel can pass through said first fuel outlet in an atomized condition.
 2. A fuel injection device according to claim 1 in which said valve is a floating ball valve.
 3. A fuel injection system including a fuel injection device as claimed in claim
 1. 4. A fuel injection system according to claim 3 including a vibrator for vibrating the nozzle to produce atomization of the fuel injected by the nozzle.
 5. A fuel injection system according to claim 4 in which the vibrator includes a piezo-electric element. 